The American Cancer Society is the nationwide, community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and service.

History:
The American Cancer Society was founded in 1913 as the American Society for the Control of Cancer (ASCC) by 15 prominent physicians and business leaders in New York City. It was one of the most remarkable moments in the history of public health.
In those early days, cancer was rarely mentioned in public and the Society’s founders knew they had to bring cancer out of the closet if progress was to be made. They set about writing articles for popular magazines and professional journals, publishing Campaign Notes, a monthly bulletin of cancer information, and recruiting physicians throughout the country to help educate the public.
In 1936, Marjorie G. Illig, an ASCC field representative and chair of the General Federation of Women's Clubs Committee on Public Health, made an extraordinary suggestion. She proposed creating a legion of new volunteers whose sole purpose would be to wage war on cancer. The Women's Field Army, as this organization came to be called, was an enormous success. Its recruits donned khaki uniforms, complete with insignia of rank and achievement, and went out into the streets to raise money and help educate the public. Clarence Little, the ASCC's managing director at the time, wrote: "In 1935, there were fifteen thousand people active in cancer control throughout the United States. At the close of 1938, there were ten times that number." More than anything else, it was the Women's Field Army that moved the Society to the forefront of voluntary health organizations.
In 1945, the ASCC was reorganized as the American Cancer Society. It was the beginning of a new era for the organization and, in many ways, for the country as a whole. World War II was over and the nation could at last focus its attention on the enemy at home. Many believed it was time for another bold move. In 1946, Mary Lasker and her colleagues met this challenge, helping to raise more than $4 million dollars for the Society -- $1 million of which was used to establish and fund the Society's research program. With the aid and assistance of dedicated volunteers like Lasker and Elmer Bobst, the Society's research program quickly began to bear fruit. In 1947 the American Cancer Society also began its public education campaign about the seven signs and symptoms of cancer.
Around the same time the cancer signals campaign began, Dr. Sidney Farber, one of the Society's first research grantees, had achieved the first temporary cancer remission using the drug aminopterin, thus beginning the modern day era of chemotherapy for cancer treatment. Over the years, scientists supported by the American Cancer Society have established the link between cancer and smoking, demonstrated the effectiveness of the Pap smear, developed cancer fighting drugs and biological response modifiers such as interferon, dramatically increased the cure rate for childhood leukemia, proved the safety and effectiveness of mammography, and much, much more. All told, the Society has committed $3 billion to research, funding 42 Nobel Prize winners, often early in their careers before they had received recognition and monetary support for their work.

Today, utilizing the efforts of two million volunteers nationwide, we are, along with the patient’s personal physician, the most trusted source of cancer information.

Contact person: Sara Williams, Assistant, (phone), (email)
Office fax number: (203) 563-1519

Address:

372 Danbury Rd Wilton, CT 06897 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.cancer.org

Directions:

Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: .5 miles,   Walk distance (in minutes): 10

Miscellaneous Information

Does your agency have weekend volunteer opportunities?
	Yes
Does your agency have evening volunteer opportunities?
	Yes
Does your agecny accept court ordered communituy service volunteers?
	Yes
Does your agency accept youth volunteers ages 14-18?
	Yes